More concrete falls from Deco Cafe - Owner wants out
By Alex Jones
11th Jun 2021 | Local News
If you are unfamiliar with the Royal Mail vs Deco Cafe saga, please read the following articles before proceeding:
Deco Cafe building presents "clear and evident danger" to passersby
"If they won't protect the public, I will": Deco owner sets up makeshift cordon after falling concrete
"Wrong side!" - Royal Mail contractors install protective canopy under area already fixed
Deco Cafe cannot reopen despite protective canopy, says owner
Another piece of concrete fell from 41 Albert Road yesterday, this time plummeting onto an overhang above the doorway.
The concrete fell from a section of lintel nearby a piece recently removed by engineers sent by the building's owners Royal Mail, who deemed the piece to be at risk of breaking away.
The engineers then performed a tap and test check on the rest of the band. According to Deco Cafe owner Deborah Lock, they decided the rest of the lintel was not at risk of failing.
Mrs Lock refused to reopen her business until Royal Mail provided proof of this. She has not been sent the engineer report.
She says she now feels vindicated by the falling concrete, but that the ordeal has driven her to commence action to close her business permanently.
"I've always known it was unsafe," she told Nub News. "They tested it and said they didn't think it's going to fall, but then it has. They obviously do not know.
"If they can't tell where it's going to fall, then it could go anywhere, including the other side where there's no canopy.
"I just want out. I need to be free of it. It's made me ill and they just need to let me go and sort their building out because it's dangerous."
The story so far:
7 December 2020 - A large piece of concrete falls from the first floor lintel. It would have killed anyone posting a letter beneath it at the time. Mrs Lock begins campaign for Royal Mail to take action.
6 April 2021 - Royal Mail send contractors to fix failed area.
17 May 2021 - Following pressure from Mrs Lock and a Nub News investigation, Royal Mail install a protective canopy under the cracked areas of lintel.
28 May 2021 - Royal Mail sends surveyors and engineers to check lintel. The break away a piece of cracked concrete.
10 June 2021 - More concrete (a piece adjacent to that removed by contractors) falls away.
Royal Mail is yet to respond to our requests for comment.
Read our full investigation into the initial incident HERE.
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